Author Elif Shafak struggled at first with how to write her new book, The Island of Missing Trees. The story she wanted to tell is about a family from Cyprus, a Mediterranean island that was the center of a conflict in the 1970s, but she didn't want the story to be about tribalism or nationalism. Which is why, Shafak told NPR's Steve Inskeep, much of the story is told from the perspective of a fig tree
Amanda Holmes reads Jack Gilbert’s poem “Failing and Flying.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.
This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch.
It covers 70% of the Earth’s surface and is one of the most common substances on Earth, and it makes up 97% of the water on the planet. Despite being so common, it is also one of the most complex substances you’ll ever encounter. You can swim and surf in it, but you can’t drink it. Learn more about seawater, and why there is a whole lot more to it than you probably realize, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
The working world looks a lot different today than it did nearly two years ago, when the coronavirus pandemic sent many office staff to work from home indefinitely. Writers Anne Helen Peterson and Charlie Warzel take a look at what work, and our relationship to it, will look like going forward in their new book, Out of Office. NPR's Rachel Martin spoke with Peterson about why so many companies want their employees back in person. And, spoiler alert: it's not about productivity.
S2 Ep 22. From heart stopper to heart saver? The electric eel creates energy within its body to shock its prey. Scientists are copying the electricity-producing cells of the eel to develop a new type of soft, fleshy battery which may be used inside the body to power medical implants.
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Despite what you might have been told, Christopher Columbus and his expedition were not the first Europeans to reach the Americas. Almost 500 years earlier, a small group of Norse settlers arrived on what is today the Island of Newfoundland. Yet, their presence on the continent was short-lived and no one ever came after them. Learn more about what Vinland, Vikings, and lactose intolerance might have shaped history, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
In the 1980s, two superpowers battled each other for global supremacy. Across the world, the two goliaths collided on almost every front. In the end, it left a landscape littered with millions dead…..tired of listening to their commercials. Learn more about the Cola Wars and how they changed economics, culture, and soft drinks, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
